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International Women's Day March 8th: FREE WOMEN IN IRAN Song Multimedia Flash (Turn On Your Speakers) -
In Memory Of Brave Iranian Women Victims and 27 Years Of Strong Resistance Against Islamofascists - Iranian Women Victims Are Leders of War On Terror

International Women's Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies. Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:

1909

In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.

1910

The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

1911

As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

1913-1914

As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

1917

With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

The Role of the United Nations
Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.

Development Section
Department of Public Information
Room S-1040, United Nations, New York, NY 10017
Email: mediainfo@un.org

cyrus wrote:

6 Brave Daughters of IRAN Biography As Part of Million Victims of Islamist Regime in Past 27 Years

In memory of Dr. Farrokhrou Parsa M.D.

Executed on May 8, 1980 in Public

Who was Dr. Farokhrou Parsa?

Over 26 year ago, today, the executioners of the Islamic regime took the life an Iranian woman, known for her courage, integrity and effort in the promotion of education for Iranian women.Dr. Forokhrou Parsa who was a medical doctor was the first Iranian woman who became a deputy and later Minister of Education. Her mother was the founder of the first Iranian journal for women. Rich in her background, Dr. Parsa began a relentless battle in the liberalization of Iranian women. During her tenure as the Minister of education, Millions of female students attended universities and schools and enjoyed the same rights as their male counterparts.

Dr. Parsa's legacy as a courageous woman is an example to all Iranians and especially the women of Iran who have stood firm against the abuses of the regime in every arena. Today, her memory remains in the hearts and minds of thousands of Iranian women.God bless her soul.

In memory of Professor Dr. Homa Darabi M.D.

Professor Dr. Homa Darabi was one of the casualties of this Reign of Islamic Terror. She was a medical doctor specializing in pediatrics, general psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry, and was licensed to practice medicine in New Jersey, New York, and California. In 1990, she was fired from her position as a professor at the School of Medicine at Tehran University due to her non compliance to the Islamic rules of Hijab (Covering up of Women). When a 16 year old girl was shot to death in Northern Tehran for wearing lipstick about a month prior to her death, Dr. Darabi could no longer handle the way women were being treated in Iran, she finally decided to protest the oppression of women by setting herself on fire in a crowded square in northern Tehran, on February 21, 1994. Her last cry was
Death to Tyranny
Long Live Liberty
Long Live Iran
Dr. Homa Darabi :http://www.homa.org/Details.asp?ContentID=2137352839&TOCID=2083225413

In Memory of Ms. Zahra Kazemi

Ms. Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, was arrested on June 23, 2003 and was savagely and barbarically beaten to death by Islamic regime officials. News agencies reported that Ms. Kazemi's body was buried on July 23, 2003, in Shiraz, Iran, contrary to the wishes of her family, and repeated formal requests from the Canadian government.

The murderous mullahs of Iran have executed another minor.
The Heartbreaking And Enraging Story of a 16 Year Old Girl Executed by the Islamist Mafia Mullah Dictatorship on Sunday, August 15, 2004 in the town of Neka, Iran. Please Visit : http://activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3661

In Memory of Ms. Parvaneh Forouhar
7 years ago, the knife of islamic republic Mafia silenced the voices of two of Iran’s noble children: "
Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar. But, it did not silence the aspiration of them for democracy, liberty, justice, and freedom. It not only did not silence, but rejuvenated the voices of Iranians rising to the aspiration of the Frouhars. Knives cut flesh, but cannot cut aspirations. Knives silence individuals, but cannot silence a nation. Knives shorten lives, but prolong resolve of the nation. Those who lowered their knives in the hearts of the Frouhars saw the spill of their blood writing on the soil of our nation: Victory Will Be Ours! The enemies of our country unjustly ruling Iran for two decades are doomed! That’s what that blood said! And that’s what the murderers of islamic republic should take notice of!"
To know more about Ms. Parvaneh Forouhar please visit: http://www.forouharha.com/

“Have you heard that it was said,'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Mattew “5:38?
For the past 27 years the while we have been turning the other cheek advocating civil disobedience and nonviolent movements,
The Iranian mullahs have been upping their ante on murder, maiming, raping, jailing, torturing, assassinating, and executing the dissidents.
2 days ago, on March 8, 2006 Iranian police and plainclothes Basiji thugs charged a peaceful assembly of women’s rights activists in Tehran and beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women’s Day. The Islamic barbarians even assaulted the elderly famous Iranian poet Simin
Behbahani with an electric shocking baton as well as punching and kicking her!

Last January about 1300 members of the Syndicate of the Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company were arrested. Hundreds of drivers and their wives and even children were transferred to the Evin Prison where the jail and judiciary officials even beat-up one of bus driver’s two year old daughter. To crush the strike, the security forces used tear gas, batons and the threat to shoot the strikers. In each area where 600 to 700 workers were expected to report to work about 1500 security forces were present. Police raided the homes of the syndicate members and the majority of the members of the board of the union were
taken into custody. The Iranian government and the city officials brought additional buses and drivers to prevent the spread of the strike. The attempted strike was brutally oppressed by the government forces and the security guards of the public bus company.
In the 2005 US Dept. of State country report on human right referencing the UN General Assembly resolution on December 16, the following human rights problems were reported:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61688.htm
• significant restriction of the right of citizens to change their government
• summary executions, including of minors
• disappearances
• torture and severe punishments such as amputations and flogging
• violence by vigilante groups with ties to the government
• poor prison conditions
• arbitrary arrest and detention, including prolonged solitary confinement
• lack of judicial independence
• lack of fair public trials, including lack of due process and access to counsel
• political prisoners and detainees
• excessive government violence in Kurdish areas
• substantial increase in violence from unknown groups in an Arab region of the country
• severe restrictions on civil liberties--speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and privacy
• severe restrictions on freedom of religion
• official corruption
• lack of government transparency
• violence and legal and societal discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities, and homosexuals
• trafficking in persons
• incitement to anti-Semitism
• severe restriction of workers' rights, including freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively
• child labor
In a country that not even a completely peaceful gathering with no political overtones or slogans or a simple labor dispute is so brutally suppressed,
how could we continue advocating nonviolent political action?
This is a word to the Islamic hooligans: that the Iranian peoples’ patience is running out; if this trend continues we will resort to an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth option.
A word of advice to the Iranian law enforcement officers: remember the aftermath of the 1979 revolution, remember how many innocent police officers
and security agents were either executed or killed by the people; Your mullah masters’ days are over, your turn will come! People will avenge, the good
will also pay the price for the crimes of the bad! You are paid by the people not the mullahs to serve and protect. Your job description does not include
murder, maiming, raping, jailing, torturing, assassinating, and executing the dissidents. Stop!

Iranian police and plainclothes agents yesterday charged a peaceful assembly of women’s rights activists in Tehran and beat hundreds of women and men who had gathered to commemorate International Women’s Day, Human Rights Watch said today.

The attack took place shortly after participants in the celebration assembled at Tehran’s Daneshjoo Park at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8.

“The Iranian authorities marked International Women’s Day by attacking hundreds of people who had peacefully assembled to honor women’s rights,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Once again, Iran’s government has signaled that it is ready to use violence to suppress peaceful public assembly of any sort.”

“This was a completely peaceful gathering with no political overtones or slogans,” one participant told Human Rights Watch. “We just held up signs in solidarity with the international women’s rights movement.”

Within minutes, after agents photographed and videotaped the gathering, the police told the crowd to disperse. In response, the participants staged a sit-in and started to sing the anthem of the women’s rights movement, one participant told Human Rights Watch.

The security forces then dumped cans of garbage on the heads of women who were seated before charging into the group and beating them with batons to compel them to leave the park.

“As we started to run away and seek shelter, they followed us and continued to beat us. I was beaten several times on my arm, below the waist, and on my wrist,” an activist said.

The commander of security forces at the scene, Ghodratollah Mahmoudi, told the Iranian Labor News Agency that “this gathering was held without an official permit. The response by the security forces prevented the gathering to take on a political dimension.”

Among those present at the gathering was Simin Behbahani, a renowned Iranian poet. According to an eyewitness, “Behbahani was beaten with a baton, and when people protested that she is in her 70s and she can barely see, the security officer kicked her several times and continued to hit her with his baton.”

The security forces also took several foreign journalists into custody and confiscated their photographic equipment and video footage before releasing them.

On the previous day, March 7, the Iranian interior ministry summoned several women’s rights activists and warned them to cancel the gathering. The activists responded that the event is an annual celebration by many women’s rights groups and that they were not organizing the event.

Since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in August, security forces have repeatedly resorted to violence to suppress peaceful gatherings. In January, security forces in Tehran attacked and arrested hundreds of striking bus drivers who were protesting working conditions.

In February, security forces in the city of Qom used excessive force and tear gas to detain hundreds of Sufi followers who had gathered in front of their house of worship to prevent its destruction by the authorities.

London, Mar. 11 – An Iranian opposition satellite channel aired on Saturday footage of a demonstration in Tehran by hundreds of women celebrating International Women’s Day, and a brutal raid by Iran’s security forces to break up the rally.

The rally took place on Wednesday afternoon in Tehran’s Laleh Park. Numerous women were beaten up by truncheon-wielding policemen and dozens were arrested as they resisted attempts by security agents to disperse the demonstrators.

The television, Simaye Azadi -- “Vision of Freedom” in Persian – said the film was taken by women activists in Tehran.

The State Department's annual report on human rights conditions worldwide, issued Wednesday, includes criticism of China, North Korea, Iran and some of the United States' Arab allies including Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice

The report was introduced at a news conference by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said the United States' promotion of human rights and democracy is in keeping with its most cherished principles, and is helping build a more peaceful world.

"How a country treats its own people is a strong indication of how it will behave toward its neighbors. The growing demand for democratic governance reflects a recognition that the best guarantor of human rights is a thriving democracy with transparent, accountable institutions of government, equal rights under the rule of law, a robust civil society, political pluralism and independent media," she said.

It said the Iranian government's already poor record on human rights and democracy worsened in 2005, during which serious abuses occurred, including summary executions and severe punishments including amputations and floggings.

March 8, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A gathering by a group of women's-rights activists in Tehran to mark the International Women's day was disrupted today by the police, according to Radio Farda.

One of those activists, who did not want to be named, told Radio Farda that many women were beaten up by police forces in front of a park in the Iranian capital where they wanted to have a ceremony and demand gender equality.

"Unfortunately the police attacked [us], they beat up violently especially the women, including Mrs. Simin Behbahani [a prominent Iranian poet]; they didn't even respect her age," the activist said. "They dispersed everyone, many of the boys were also beaten up, and some of them were arrested."

Activists had come to hear speeches against discrimination against women. Some were reportedly carrying banners with slogans in favor of women's rights and gender equality.

Simin Behbehani, one of Iran's greatest contemporary poets and writers was amongst those women who were beaten up in yesterday's rally in Tehran. "They were armed with guns, electric batons and other things. They attacked the young women, showing no respect or mercy, they punched and kicked us, it was mayhem and I don't even know why it happened. The few hundred women had gathered in the corner of the student park listening to a speech, in a peaceful manner. They would have left the scene shortly after, had they been left alone.

All of a sudden these policemen raided the park and dispersed us, however some of the women started a small demonstration and walked around the park and started singing, it was a beautiful scene; this did not last too long and police quickly dispersed them also by kicking them, using batons, etc.
The crowd were scattered in the Vali-asr and Jomhoori avenue with the police in the middle trying to seperate them.

I am not worried about myself, I am very upset however for the fellow young Iranians in my country who justified their animal-like behaviour by wearing police uniforms. Although I don't want to blame them all, there were a few of them who acted humanely, but most of them did not think before they acted.
It's regrettable that these young men behaved in such a savage way, we women will not be stopped by such attacks"

Iranian women attend a rally at Laleh park in the center of Tehran, 2004. The United States blasted China and Iran for alleged gross human rights violations, branding them among the "most systematic" rights violators in an annual rights report.(AFP/File/Henghameh Fahimi)

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 08 – Hundreds of women gathered Wednesday afternoon in Tehran’s Laleh Park and took part in a demonstration against the Iranian government on the occasion of International Women’s Day, according to eye-witnesses.

The security forces, which had been on alert to enforce a ban on all gatherings, quickly moved in and within minutes arrested several dozen women, an eye-witness told Iran Focus.

Several women were arrested while taking photographs or filming the demonstration.

The female protestors, who were joined by a number of men supporting their cause, continued to resist attempts by the security agents and the undercover security forces, according to the report.

NCRI – The International Women's Day was marked by protest gatherings in two major parks in central Tehran today.

Women chanted "freedom, freedom" in Daneshjou and Laleh park gatherings despite harsh measures imposed by the regime's security forces. To prevent women to assemble, the suppressive forces surrounded the area forcing people to disperse.

According to eye witnesses, the plain clothes agents accompanied the security forces in their attacks against women in Daneshjou park but failed to prevent women gathering and they continued with their protest.

Protestors held banners which read: "Iranian women want freedom," "end repression and censorship." A woman was arrested while taking picture from security forces' attack on women.

Women sang national songs on their way out of the park at the end of their protest gathering.

Similar moves were reported from across the country and women condemned the reign of repression, executions and stoning in Iran.

WASHINGTON -- Despite International Women's Day celebrations today, women in Iran still struggle for basic rights. The country's conservative authorities forbid women from simple activities such as watching the World Cup qualifying soccer game live in a stadium.

More prominent are restrictions on their legal and civil rights.

Women in Iran can inherit only half as much of their parents' wealth as their brothers.

Their husbands can marry more than one woman, and automatically get custody of children after a divorce. Women can be jailed or hanged for defying the dress code, and they can be stoned to death for adultery.

Since the 1979 overthrow of the Shah, the fundamentalist governments dominated by clerics have stressed the traditional role of women and restricted their civil rights and participation in political activities.

"The changes of women's conditions are very minor, only about surface things. But the limitations on basic rights and the legislation infrastructure haven't been changed at all," said Mahnaz Afkhami, president of Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development and Peace, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington.

Iranian women are better-educated and more politically sophisticated than many of their Muslim neighbors. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reports that the literacy rate of Iranian women is 70 percent, compared with an average 46.2 percent in the Middle East.

A large number of Iranian women hold professional jobs in journalism, medicine or law, or become human-rights activists. Up to 70 percent of university students in Iran are female, said Swanee Hunt, director of the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Squelched opportunities

Women's active engagement in society, however, has been met with increasing oppression from the regime.

In June, Iran's Guardian Council, a conservative constitutional watchdog, barred all 81 female presidential candidates on the basis of their sex. Women are beaten or jailed for wearing clothes or makeup regarded as insufficiently modest, the State Department said in a 2004 human-rights report.

Islamic countries have various interpretations of religious law, resulting in different levels of sex disparities, but the authority of Islamic law cannot be changed easily. Eleven countries have Islam as a source of legislation, and 21 others have religious clauses in their laws, said Mohamed Mattar, a law professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Much has changed within the Islamic framework, Mr. Mattar said. "There might be some gender inequalities by international-rights standard, but it's up to interpretation. You can interpret it in a way to protect women's rights."

The marriageable age for Iranian women can be a barometer of progress toward equal rights.

The pro-Western Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, instituted the Family Protection Law in 1967 that raised the marriageable age of women to 18.

Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini overthrew the Shah in 1979, ending more than 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. He canceled the law, announced that women no longer could be judges, and segregated beaches and sports by sex. The marriageable age was reduced to 9.

In 1997, massive support from women made Mohammed Khatami, a moderate clergyman and reformist, president, said Azar Nafisi, a writer and literary scholar at Johns Hopkins University.

Reforms that were carried out included raising the marriageable age of girls to 13 and referring divorces to the court system. But Mr. Khatami was unable to challenge the religious power, and his reforms fell short of the expectations of many Iranians and encountered a setback with the presidential election victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year.

Politically active

Mr. Ahmadinejad proposed to separate the sexes in universities and public places, the local press reported. In January, the government shut down a newspaper that ran a picture of women dressed in insufficiently Islamic garments and closed a women's publication.

"The change of regimes, from Khomeini to Khatami or Ahmadinejad, brought differences only on social and cultural ramifications. The infrastructural legislation hasn't changed at all," Mrs. Afkhami said.

Sex segregation, however, is partly responsible for the high education rate of women in Iran. Mrs. Afkhami said the need to have professional women in all segregated fields increased female university enrollments.

Iranian women gained constitutional recognition of equal rights in 1906, and the right to vote in 1962. Since then, the massive movements made them "active, articulate and very capable" of political involvement, Mrs. Afkhami said. "Their consciousness and eagerness for equal rights can hardly be pushed back."

The reversal of basic rights in 1979 increased the political activity of Iranian women.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi lost her job as Iran's first female judge after the revolution, because conservative clerics insisted that Islam forbids the judgments of women. She turned to the practice of law, defending liberal and dissident causes in the courts.

The political scene, however, remains dominated by men. Only 0.1 percent of ministry-level jobs and 4.1 percent of parliament seats are held by women, the U.N. Development Program reported.

"Women are most negatively affected by the fundamentalist regime, and they are most eager for social and cultural changes," Mrs. Afkhami said. "They are the most important population to bring changes to Iran and to increase democracy in the country."

Demand for U.S. efforts

Although the U.S. State Department has sponsored programs on women's civil and political rights in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, similar efforts are absent in Iran.

Sanctions prevented U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations from engaging with Iran's civil groups. Agencies such as the International Republican Institute and the National Democracy Institute, which specialize in promoting democracy in foreign countries, do not operate in Iran.

"The U.S. should give voice to what's happening in Iran and cultivate more people-to-people exchange," Mrs. Nafisi said. "When people take part, the change is much more powerful than working from outside."

Mrs. Nafisi said the international community should promote in Iran the same nonviolent democratic changes that succeeded in South Africa and Eastern Europe.

During the nuclear stalemate, the United States is focusing on civilians in Iran. At a congressional hearing in February, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged $75 million to empower Iranian civil movements. Without spelling out who would receive the money, Miss Rice said it would be allocated to opposition parties, free press, the Internet and international exchange.

"A portion of this funding should be directed toward efforts to break down barriers to women's participation," Ms. Hunt said.

"If the United States is serious about promoting democracy in the Middle East, it must put women's rights at the center of any dialogue," she added.

-- In solidarity with the brave women of Iran on International Women's day

-- A century of Struggle for women's rights and democracy

On Wednesday, March 8th, the Global Coalition Against Fundamentalism will host a panel discussion at the Murrow Room of the National Press Club, in solidarity with Iranian women which will be gathering in "Laleh Park" in Tehran despite all limitations imposed by the regime.

We are very proud to have a representative of women's coalition responsible for organizing the Laleh Park protest, provide a full report of their protest held on that same day via conference call from Iran.

Iranian women across Iran have called for massive public gatherings to demand their basic and fundamental rights which have been denied to them for the past 27 years. In the past quarter of a century Iranian women have been the main victims of the fundamentalist regime ruling Iran and women's political and social plight has been adversely affected by this phenomenon.

Women of Iran have taken the forefront in the fight against the fundamentalist regime ruling Iran as they strongly believe the struggle for gender equality and emancipation cannot be separated from the fight against fundamentalism.

As Iranian human rights advocates and political activists in exile, we stand in solidarity with the brave women and men in Iran, which risk their lives to denounce the theocratic dictatorship ruling Iran.

The panel will discuss the current situation of women in Iran, their plight and their role, there will also be reports made available to the public from within Iran. Panelist will also address the current solutions on the table in regards to the Iran dilemma and the role of Iranian women in the Iranian Resistance.

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 8, 2006

The Islamic Republic of Iran,* with a population of approximately 68 million, is a constitutional, theocratic republic in which Shi'a Muslim clergy dominate the key power structures. Article four of the constitution states that "All laws and regulations?shall be based on Islamic principles." Government legitimacy is based on the twin pillars of popular sovereignty (Article Six) and the rule of the Supreme Jurisconsulate (Article Five).

The supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dominated a tricameral division of power among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. He is not directly elected but chosen by an elected body of religious leaders. Khamenei directly controlled the armed forces and exercised indirect control over the internal security forces, the judiciary, and other key institutions. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami headed the executive branch until August when conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office. Ahmadinejad won the presidency in June in an election widely viewed as neither free nor fair.

An unelected 12-member council of guardians reviewed all legislation passed by the majles for adherence to Islamic and constitutional principles and also screened presidential and majles candidates for eligibility. Prior to the June presidential elections, the guardian council excluded all but 8 candidates of the 1,014 who registered.

The government's poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses. On December 16, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution expressing detailed, serious concern over the country's human rights problems.

In preparation for the June presidential elections, there was intense political struggle between a broad popular movement favoring greater liberalization of human rights and the economy, and hard-line elements within government and society that viewed such reforms as a threat to the Islamic Republic. Reformists and hard-liners within the government engaged in divisive internal debates.

The following human rights problems were reported:

significant restriction of the right of citizens to change their government
summary executions, including of minors
disappearances
torture and severe punishments such as amputations and flogging
violence by vigilante groups with ties to the government
poor prison conditions
arbitrary arrest and detention, including prolonged solitary confinement
lack of judicial independence
lack of fair public trials, including lack of due process and access to counsel
political prisoners and detainees
excessive government violence in Kurdish areas
substantial increase in violence from unknown groups in an Arab region of the country
severe restrictions on civil liberties--speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and privacy
severe restrictions on freedom of religion
official corruption
lack of government transparency
violence and legal and societal discrimination against women, ethnic and religious minorities, and homosexuals
trafficking in persons
incitement to anti-Semitism
severe restriction of workers' rights, including freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively
child labor

March 8, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A gathering by a group of women's-rights activists in Tehran to mark the International Women's day was disrupted today by the police, according to Radio Farda.

One of those activists, who did not want to be named, told Radio Farda that many women were beaten up by police forces in front of a park in the Iranian capital where they wanted to have a ceremony and demand gender equality.

"Unfortunately the police attacked [us], they beat up violently especially the women, including Mrs. Simin Behbahani [a prominent Iranian poet]; they didn't even respect her age," the activist said. "They dispersed everyone, many of the boys were also beaten up, and some of them were arrested."

Activists had come to hear speeches against discrimination against women. Some were reportedly carrying banners with slogans in favor of women's rights and gender equality.

WOMEN’S DAY: Pakistani peace activists hold candles on the eve of International Women's Day in Multan, Pakistan, on March 7.
(REUTERS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MULTAN, Pakistan -- Around 3,000 people on Wednesday attended a rally led by a Pakistani woman whose gang rape on the orders of a tribal council triggered an international outcry, witnesses said.

The protestors, the vast majority of them women, held placards and banners and cheered Mukhtaran Mai when she appeared on a stage along with a dozen other gang-rape victims to mark International Women's Day.

"I will continue my struggle to end the oppression of women," 33-year-old Mai told the crowd. "I have come here so we can raise our voices together."

Local authorities banned them from marching on roads so they held the rally in a park.

"The day will be momentous as it will bring together, for the first time, men and women in an area globally marked for gender discrimination and cruelty toward women," Mai earlier said.

Mai was gang-raped on the orders of a tribal council in a rural village in Punjab province in 2002 as punishment for her brother's alleged affair with a woman from another tribe.

The case and Mai's high-profile quest to bring her rapists to justice attracted extensive international attention, much to the embarrassment of the Pakistani authorities.

Rallies, walks and seminars were held in various Pakistani cities on Wednesday to mark the struggle for women's rights.

In Islamabad the United Nations Population Fund launched a compendium on gender statistics and the ministry of women's development arranged a march to the parliament building.

In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, the provincial women's development department organized a walk, a seminar and crafts exhibition.

Pakistani newspapers published special supplements and prominently displayed photos depicting the plight of women in the South Asian Islamic republic.

Last June Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered 13 men linked to Mai's case to be rearrested and suspended their acquittals by lower courts.

The same month, President Pervez Musharraf barred Mai from traveling to the United States to address a human rights group, saying that the visit would damage the country's image overseas. The ban was later rescinded after intense criticism from, among others, US officials.

Musharraf also came under fire in September when he suggested to a US newspaper that some women viewed being raped as a way to get a foreign visa.

About 4,000 people, mostly women, have been killed in conservative rural areas of Pakistan in recent years in the name of protecting family honor. Many others have been raped or burned with acid under codes of tribal justice. Musharraf early this year signed into law a bill introducing the death penalty for honor killings.

The NITV satellite channel broadcasted, on Friday morning,
footages of a demonstration, held in Tehran, by hundreds of
women who were celebrating the "International Women's Day",
and a brutal raid by Islamic regime's security agents to
break up the rally. The broadcast of the footages, by the
popular NITV, has shocked many non-political Iranians who
have been astonished by the degree of the brutality used,
by Islamists, against helpless women.

The gathering took place, on Wednesday March 8th, at the
Tehran's Laleh Park where tens of women, including Simin
Behbahani - a famous female poet - were beaten by security
agents.
http://daneshjoo.org/publishers/smccdinews/article_4525.shtml
Dozens of female protesters and their male supporters were
arrested, as, they resisted attempts by the Islamist
Militiamen to disperse the demonstrators. Many of them have
been reported as being transferred to the infamous Evin
Political Jail located in North Tehran.

NITV's satellite programs were interrupted few hours later
and following financial problems that have created great
concerns among many Iranians. Most of them are relying on
this trusted network for a better understanding of the
situation and the coordination of the civil actions and
protest actions against the Islamic republic regime, such
as, at the occasion of the banned "Tchahar-Shanbe Soori
(Fire Fiest) on March 14th.

The network's management hopes to resume its satellite
programming, from Monday, in case of collecting necessary
financial support from individual donors.

NITV continues to broadcast, live, on the Internet
(http://www.pamtv.us), but only 10% of Iranians, living
inside, have access to the Internet. Many sites are blocked
or controlled by the regime's Intelligence.

The footages of the March 8th event were provided, to the
network and other abroad based Iranian TV networks and
opposition websites, by amateurs located inside and who
used the www.zshare.net service on the Internet.

The Gender Apartheid Policy and repression of Iranian women
has increased following the start, yesterday, of a new
official campaign intended to enforce the observance of the
Islamist mandatory veil in Iran.

Hundreds of fully black veiled and armed female security
agents, qualified as "black crows" by most Iranians, have
been deployed in each of Iran's main cities. Their official
mission has been qualified as a 'suggestive guidance task
intending to make respect the Islamic and moral values' and
'to fight the increasing western decadence'.

While officially they're 'not to use of any force or brutal
manners', never less various reports are contrary to the
official statements made, today, by the Islamic regime's
President and heads of security forces. Reports are stating
about the use of brutality, insults and fines against
hundreds of maverick Iranian females who were seen opposing
the black crows injunctions in several areas of Tehran,
such as, Vali-e-Asr (former Pahlavi), Madar (former
Mohseni) and Tajrish. Several young girls were seen
arrested and transferred to security posts in order to what
has been qualified as 'proper identification'.

In some places maverick Iranian males, offended or
intending to protect their mothers, sisters, female friends
or the victims, from the repressive female agents, were
seen beaten by male security agents who have been deployed
to protect their female colleagues.

It seems that some harsh critics made by some European and
American circles against the discriminatory campaign have
caused the sudden issuance of official statements on the
'peaceful nature of the guidance task'.

Reports of the same type of repressive measures have been
received from some of the provincial cities, such as,
Esfahan, Rasht, Ghom, Mashad or Shiraz where they have
already been applied before its start in the Capital.

In reality, the whole campaign has started following the
quasi-official rally which took place in front of the
Islamic Parliament last week. It took place in order to
offer a so-called legitimate and popular back up for the
discriminatory crackdown on Iranian women and was composed
by dozens of fully dark veiled female agents, as well as,
foreign Islamist females and even what some many Iranians
call as 'veiled governmental prostitutes'. This third
category is used for various purposes by the Islamic
regime, such as, collecting information or approaching
foreign journalists while having a more western look or in
some cases wearing more provocative clothing.

Tens of Iranian women have died and hundreds of other have
been injured, since 1979, for fighting for gender equality
in Iran. Many of them have used mass gatherings to burn
their mandatory veils and to denounce the existing
repression while some naive foreign circles have started to
promote, since 1997, individuals, such as, Shirin Ebadi or
Mehranguiz Kar as defenders of women's rights.

In reality, while thousands of Iranian women were marching
in the streets of Tehran, in 1979, and shouting "No Veil,
No Submission"; Ebadi and Kar were endorsing Rouh-Ollah
Khomeini's backwarded Islamist revolution. Worst, they were
seen as wearing the Islamist veil in sign of such support,
despite having had higher law education and human rights
courses.

Finally, and to make sure no terrorist and anti-American is forgotten by world liberals and leftover Marxists, a well known hostage taker is rewarded by green liberals. This person was the translators and spoke person for terrorists who took Americans Hostage by raiding American embassy in Tehran; she was known to the western media by the alias “MARY”:

The voice of poet Simin Behbahani rises, soothing the wounds of Iranians betrayed by a revolution that has curtailed their rights and failed to deliver social justice.

To stay alive, you must slay silence . . .

to pay homage to being, you must sing .

At 79, the revered poet has only peripheral vision, but she still writes. To defy the ravages of macular degeneration, she records her verses vertically, down the edge of the paper.

She described an incident in March when riot police approached her during a gathering in Tehran to mark International Women's Day. "Hey, don't hurt this lady. She is Simin Behbahani," a student in the crowd protested. "If you touch her, I will set myself on fire."

His outburst enraged the police. One of the officers lashed Behbahani's right arm and back with a whip and then beat her with a club that emitted electric shocks, she recalled. A passing policeman recognized her, intervened and bundled her into a taxi.

Sitting composedly in the solarium of her niece's home in McLean recently, Behbahani discussed her work and life through an interpreter. She was on her 15th tour of the United States, with speaking events in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities, and will travel on to Canada.

"I have always been drawn to social issues. Even before the eruption of the revolution, while under the shah, I was also suffering," she said, referring to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the Islamic revolution of 1979. "There was no democracy in Iran. Even then, we had censorship."

Before the revolution, her poetry dealt with poverty, orphans and corruption, reflecting her concern for the outcast, the marginalized and the neglected. Her recent work has touched on the themes of freedom of expression and the rights of minorities and prisoners.

"I will identify her as the most iconic Iranian poet alive," said Farzaneh M. Milani , director of Studies in Women and Gender at the University of Virginia. "I can really say she has become a cultural hero, and she is treated as such outside and inside her country." Milani, an authority on Behbahani, teaches a course on Iranian female poets.

"She reminds me of T.S. Eliot," Milani said. "She dives deep into her culture and literature, and the product is a truly modern outlook on the role of the individual, concern for democracy and human rights. The form is traditional, but the perspective and poetic persona are quite progressive."

Behbahani is known for her ghazals , sonnet-like love poems distinguishable by their special rhyme scheme and lilting lyrics. Traditionally, the ghazal featured a male poet romancing a woman. Behbahani reversed the roles; in her poems, men are the objects of desire.

"It was not only sensuous but courageous," Milani said of her dedication to the form. "While most of her contemporaries from the '20s and '30s wrote free verse at the height of the modern movement, she stuck to ghazal . Some poets claimed the genre was dead, but she pursued it and took it to new heights."

Roya Hakakian , an Iranian American poet and author, said that when she was growing up in the 1970s, Behbahani was not at all fashionable, eclipsed by the late Forough Farrokhzad and Ahmad Shamlou, the literary giants of that time.

"When the revolution failed to deliver people to democracy and greater freedom, people turned away from modern poetry," Hakakian said. But Behbahani "has remained extremely loyal to the classical concept and has become a symbol of resistance, which is why, 30 years later, she looms so large," she said.

"She has been very fair to tradition and has never sold her pen or soul to any political group or political party. Yet, she is also very political because she has always spoken truth to power. Now some of her poems have become like aphorisms, sayings and proverbs," said Milani, who with Kaveh Safa translated some of Behbahani's poems into English in "A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems."

My country, I will build you again,

if need be, with bricks made from my life.

I will build columns to support your roof,

if need be, with my bones.

Unlike younger intellectuals swept up in the fervor of the early stages of the revolution, Behbahani was suspicious. "I realized changes were not going in the right direction," she said.

She was frightened by the wave of terror that followed, encompassing executions, kangaroo trials and mysterious disappearances of ordinary Iranians. "We had gone the wrong way from the very beginning," she said.

She took a public stand against the tyrannical rule of the ayatollahs and their infringements on freedom of expression. Her work was banned for 10 years after the revolution, and newspapers and magazines frequently published broadsides targeting her.

One night in 1996, while attending a gathering at a German diplomat's home, she was hauled off to jail. "I was slapped around, blindfolded and taken to prison," she recalled. "We were released the next morning. They led us out and dropped us in the middle of the street with our blindfolds still tied."

The Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi , who wrote about the incident in her recently released memoir, "Iran Awakening," described Behbahani as a "kindred spirit" and an inspiration for her own work on the suffering of women and the celebration of their rights.

Ebadi wrote that while she was in jail, she revisited her friend's ghazals, with their images of "monsters soaring the sky in trails of smoke, of plundered mermaids."

Behbahani smiles when asked whether she ever considered leaving Iran.

"I want to live there and die there," she said. "I feel for my people, the language, the ability to write about them through cultural bonds. The creativity in me comes from them, and I want to share it."

If you oppose stoning [of women]!
If you oppose compulsory wearing of the hijab!
If you oppose the arrest and persecution of Women!
If you oppose the swooping of whips on women's bodies!
If you oppose any form of patriarchy and male-dominance!
If you oppose all inequality and the medieval rule of the Islamic regime against Women!